- test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org - classiccmp.org

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> > But among 8-inch floppy drives and other unspecified > > items, NASA is buying up all the 8086 microprocessors > > they can lay their hands on, specifically, to keep the > > Space Shuttle flying. Not the more common 8088, of > > course, but its 16-bit big brother. > > That explains why NASA can't get a real space program > going ... Intel is behind it! > Anyway they would need space/radiation rated chips, > not the garden variety stuff. The stated use is for ground testing equipment, not near-earth deployment. Regards, -dq

24 years, 1 month

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Dr. Dobbs

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> Is it just me, or have the previously done a better job at covering > concepts and ideas in a way that didn't tie their examples to a > single platform? Maybe I'm just bitter. Agreed, but... Previously (and let's not start another round), the market was not dominated by a single large player of the scale that Microsoft enjoys. I'd posit that they put in the journal what the market wants. So I think you're just seeing the invisible hand at work. Please reply privately if you want to comment regarding lassie-faire... Regards, -dq

24 years, 1 month

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Bidding Against NASA

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> At 07:52 AM 5/13/02 -0400, Doug wrote: > >Good Morning, > > > >I think this may have come up some weeks back... > > Where did you hear this? I deal with NASA frequently (as > recently as last Wednesday) and I've nver heard remotely like > this. I did supply two boxs of 8" floppy disks to NASA a > couple of months ago but that was all thye wanted. I could > supplied close to 100 boxs of new disks but they only wanted > two boxs in order to keep one system running. That certainly > doesn't qualify as "buying up all they can lay their hands on". The local Gannett-rag-that-used-to-be-a-Pulitzer-Prize-winning newspaper. > >Anyone else here ticked of that not only are they > >trying to keep that questionable pig flying, but > >they are doing it by reducing further the quantity > >of collectable stuff? Screw the boost in value... > > 8086s collectable? Yeah right! Only if you believe the > rants of the E-bay sellers! I would say that if you had a Seattle Computer Products S-100 based CPU card, that you'd indeed have a collectable item. Worth megabucks, no. Collectable, yes. Why? It's probably not the best x86 CPU card for an S-100 frame, but it was the first to run Microsoft DOS (QDOS). So it should be at least as collectable as issues #2 & #3 of Dr. Dobb's Journal, for example. If you don't think so and have one you'll send me for postage, the collection would be most grateful. Regards, -dq

24 years, 1 month

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RDRX Disk Controller?

by tarsi＠binhost.com

I have a Qbus card out of a Micro PDP-11 marked: "RDRX Disk Controller" But I can't find info on it. Anyone? Tarsi 210

24 years, 1 month

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In Saw You Ad

by greg22＠pacbell.net

Dear fellow marketer; A few months back I joined a program and then...promptly forgot about it. You may have done this yourself sometime...you intend to work the program but then get caught in your day-to-day activities and it's soon forgotten. The program was free to join so maybe I just didn't take it very seriously. Anyway, near the end of May I received a letter from my sponsor (Jeff Maeher) informing me that I had more than 2000 PAID members in my downline! As you can imagine, I was very skeptical. After all, how could I have more than 2000 paid members under me in a program that I had never promoted? I took the time to check out the site...then wrote to Jim asking for confirmation that these were paid members and not just free sign-ups...like me :) Well, it was true...I had 2365 paid members in my downline. This in a program that I had never worked! All I had to do was upgrade to a paid membership before the end of the month and I would have my position locked in and a downline of 2365 people. You can bet I wasted no time in getting my membership upgraded! I can tell you, if I had known what was happening with this program, I would have become an active paid member months ago! With this program, you will get a HUGE downline of PAID MEMBERS . My sponsor's check, which is a minimum of $5,000, arrives every month...on time. How would you like to lock your position in FREE while you check out this opportunity and watch your downline grow? Just join Post Launch; To grab a FREE ID#, simply reply to: greg22(a)pacbell.net and write this phrase: "Email me details about the club's business and consumer opportunities" Be sure to include your: 1. First name 2. Last name 3. Email address (if different from above) We will confirm your position and send you a special report as soon as possible, also Your ID Number. This is a ONE TIME mailing - your name is already on our exclude list. I'll get you entered and let you know how you can keep track of your growing downline. That's all there's to it. No obligation. No risk. Do it Now! I'll then send you info, and you can make up your own mind. Warm regards Greg Plooy P.S. After having several negative experiences with network marketing companies I had pretty much given up on them. This company is different--it offers value, integrity, and a REAL opportunity to have your own home-based business... and finally make real money on the 'Net. Their revolutionary Vertical Integration plan is amazing and GUARANTEES that you will have PAID members placed in your downline. Don't pass this up..you can sign up and test-drive the program for FREE. Just join Post launch now for FREE. Nothing more to it. You have nothing to lose and potentially a LOT to gain. Just do it! ****************************************************** You are receiving this message for one of the following reasons: 1) we are on the same opt-in list; 2) you posted to one of my FFA pages; 3) you have responded to one of my ads; 4) you have sent an e-mail to one my addresses 5) you visited one of my websites By doing so, you have agreed to receive this message. Under Bill s. 1618 TITLE III passed by the 105th US Congress this letter Cannot be considered Spam as long as the sender includes contact information & a method of "removal." To be removed from future mailings just reply with REMOVE in the subject line. Thank you for your kind consideration. *********************************************************

24 years, 1 month

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Dr. Dobbs

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Douglas H. Quebbeman [mailto:dquebbeman@acm.org] > For those of us who write code, it's been and remains one of > the most significant journals in print. Byte and Kilobaud This is a sore point of mine. DDJ used to be one of the best programming/software engineering journals in the business, but recently I'm afraid they're not so good about publishing the kind of interesting theoretical or applied practical stuff that you'd expect from them. They're still the best in the business, make no mistake, but business is not so good. Instead they're recently publishing the same garbage as everyone else; articles regarding active this, and microshaft viral that. Of course, it's done in a better, more comprehensive way than every other magazine does it. That's no excuse, though. I recently wrote them a response to an offer of a greatly discounted subscription rate, saying basically just that. If they'd given me a discounted subscription rate seven years or so ago, I'd have taken it in a minute. Today, though, I can't justify paying anything at all for the same crap that you can find in the microshaft developer network, which my company unfortunately receives anyway. Is it just me, or have the previously done a better job at covering concepts and ideas in a way that didn't tie their examples to a single platform? Maybe I'm just bitter. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 1 month

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Free VAXstations in Dallas, TX

by mark＠mtapley2.space.swri.edu

All, Very sorry for the short notice, or if this is old news, but I just saw this on comp.sys.dec.micro. Contact Darrin directly, and today, please. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv Path: sn-us!sn-xit-01!supernews.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!cyclone1.gnilink.net!spamfinder.gnilink.net!nwrddc02.gnilink.net.POSTED!7f650d69!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3CDD45F7.4205A47C(a)yahoo.com> From: Darin Arrick <darin_arrick(a)yahoo.com> Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro Subject: FF: FREE - A Vaxstation 3100 SPX and a 3100 M38 Lines: 12 Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 22:21:08 GMT For pickup in the NE Dallas, Texas area. Tell me now, via e-mail, as these things MUST be out of my apartment in the next 2 days; I'm moving and will not take them with me. These are the "pizza box" type machines, without keyboards, etc. The SPX doesn't have hard drives, but the M38 has one in it. Come get them! Darin Arrick darin_arrick(a)yahoo.com ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - Mark

24 years, 1 month

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Bidding Against NASA

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

> At one time I did have the first three years of DDJ. I > was a charter subscriber but to tell the truth I was never > very impressed with it and I discontinued it and threw out > the back issues a long time ago. If you'd been in the area > about 6 months ago y ou would have had a good chance of > grabbing the first three years of Byte and first two years of > Kilobaud magazines that I pitched. (Easy come, easy go!) For those of us who write code, it's been and remains one of the most significant journals in print. Byte and Kilobaud in those days were good for both code jockys and the hardware types; I built but never tested a light pen based on an article in Byte. I created an implentation of a comprehensive memory test published in Kilobaud, and have used it on many different platforms, including embedded systems. > I also gave away a nearly complete set of HP Journals > (only missing about 8 issues between 1954 to present). I do miss them. But these would have been and would still be useless to me, and would likely have been trashed. One man's trash is another man's treasure, for sure. -dq

24 years, 1 month

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Bidding Against NASA

by Robert_Feldman＠jdedwards.com

My first Google hit was: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3247188.htm You can even read it in Italian: http://www.repubblica.it/online/scienza_e_tecnologia/nasa/nasa/nasa.html And it's even in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/tec hnology/ebusiness/12NASA.html), so it must be true ;). <snip> > PS I just ran a number of Google searches looking for anything related to Nasa wanting 8086 CPUs and I got ZERO hits. > > >

24 years, 1 month

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Instroducig myself - Apple II

by csmith＠amdocs.com

> -----Original Message----- > From: Bob Lafleur [mailto:bob_lafleur@technologist.com] > I think I did neglect to mention in my Apple II message that I have a > whole pile of Apple II 5 1/4 disks, which I'd be interested > in trying to > load into a simulator, and possibly make available on the net. I think > I've seen information on hooking Apple II disk drives to a PC somehow. > What are my options for doing this? I currently don't have > any Apple II > hardware at all, so as well as getting an interface, I'd need a drive. > What kind of $$ am I looking at also? Well... Richard Erlacher could probably find you at least most of an Apple II ;) Chris (I hope I spelled his last name properly) Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '

24 years, 1 month

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New find this weekend

by lincoln.fessenden＠verizon.net

> This weekend I picked up a DECsystem 5000/240 system, with 112MB of ram, > and a Prestoserve NVram card in the last slot (otherwise it would be > 120MB of ram). This system was never turned on! Brand new, just never > got used... > I have a 2gb disk, and cdrom on it, and am installing Ultrix 4.5 now... > I am using a VT510 as the console. > > Anyone know how to setup, etc the Prestoserve option? > Does Ultrix 4.5 like a 4.3 gb disk? I have a barracuda I was going to > hook up as rz1 for a data drive. > I have an exabyte 4mm dat drive, I would like to hook that up as tape > backup... comments ??? > > Anyone else running this fine system? I have/run a 5k/240 w 80megs of ram and a 4G, 2G, and 8G drives running NetBSD 1.5 as my fileserver, netboot server, dhcp server, mp3 server, and DNS server. You can't kill the things and they run like a tank. You're a lucky guy! -Linc Fessenden In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded - Yeah right...

24 years, 1 month

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Emailing: 25227(Microsoft fined for piracy)

by foxvideo＠wincom.net

Your files are attached and ready to send with this message. Microsoft bashers might like to read this from The Register. Regards Charlie Fox Charles E. Fox Video Production 793 Argyle Rd. Windsor Ontario Canada N8Y 3J8 519-254-4991 foxvideo(a)wincom.net Check out the "Camcorder Kindergarten" at http://chasfoxvideo.com

24 years, 1 month

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Mac Classic - almost dead

by manfred.bausch＠gmx.net

> If it's "just a fuse" then there's a reason. That's the > challenge. Of course > you can get another "classic" here for $5-10. That might be cheaper. > Well, if someone located in Europe has a SE/30 for sale, please contact me. I owned one a long time ago.... regards, Manfred -- GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. http://www.gmx.net

24 years, 1 month

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Sharp EL-8 calculator

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I just picked up one of these today but I didn't get the power cord. Does anyone of the list have one and if so can you tell me the pin out of the power connector? It has three pins and I beleive that the caclulator can ran off of AC or low voltage DC. Here is a picture and article of the same model calculator <http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/sharp_el-8.html>. Joe

24 years, 1 month

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List of interesting stuff was RE: Time to share a source - W.J.Ford Surplus

by vp＠mcs.drexel.edu

Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote: > The 88140xC tapes are used a number of HP tape drives and also in > some combination hard drive/tape drive units. They should be useable > in non-HP machines but they'd have to be reformatted (and > non-formatted tapes are plentiful so why boather). I think not, these tapes lack BOT and EOT markers as the drive can tell from the soft sector information where it is on the tape. If you repeatedly mount an HP tape on a normal QIC drive, it will eventually unspool it as it tries to find the BOT marker. **vp

24 years, 1 month

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Wanted: VT520/525

by jimw＠agora.rdrop.com

Subject says it all... Looking for from one to three VT520 or 525 terminals (w/keyboard) that need a new home. Drop me a note if you can help. -jim --- jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw

24 years, 1 month

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Terak 8510

by fmc＠reanimators.org

The first step is admitting that you have a problem. I have a problem. I went to Foothill this morning, saw two Terak 8510s, left them there, then the monkey in my backpack leaned forward and whispered "You'll never be able to get one again..." and I walked back and bought one. Later I heard that another collector had bought the other one. Is this the beginning of a long slide into collecting PDP-11s and VAXen? I hope not. So, I wonder what I have, how it relates to the "8510/a", and how much fun I can have with it. It's a box with two half-height 8" floppy drives poking through the front. The ID plate on the back claims that this is model "8510 B AH 484A", but the "B" looks like it was rubber-stamped on and is bigger than the surrounding text. Serial number is 1196. There is no monitor, keyboard, or diskettes containing software. There's a BNC connector labelled "composite video" so I guess that's not entirely hopeless, and following links from John Foust's web site to the ITDA site (and its archive of PDF'd Terak docs) I think I've worked out that the keyboard connector is an 8-bit TTL-level input port w/strobe, it wants to see scan codes, and I guess I could do something to fake a keyboard with a PC, a parallel port, some software and a cable. Stan and his co-worker Gavin were amused when we met at their office this afternoon. We had fun taking a screwdriver to it to look inside and see what was there. We put it back together too, and didn't have any parts left over. There may be some serial ports on the back, on an I/O panel with four 3x3 connectors. This I/O panel has a cable going back to a card (Terak p/n 92-0058-001 rev C) with two WD2123B ICs which would appear to be UARTs. One of the connectors has a sort of loopback plug installed. The floppy drives are Shugart SA860-1s. Other than that...well, we found the DEC processor card, the floppy controller card (w/NEC 765), and the double-board that does the memory and display. Looks like the latter board has 64KB of 4116s (NEC uPD416s, actually) and eight 2114s which I suppose are the display memory. Didn't find much dust. Gavin remarked on how clean it was inside, although I saw a couple small accumulations. -Frank McConnell

24 years, 1 month

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ACT Sirius help needed

by AandACannon＠cs.com

Does anyone want an ACT Sirius with original manuals (C/PM etc), floppies, daisywheel printer etc?

24 years, 1 month

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IPC Networking

by meltie＠myrealbox.com

Hello Again! I'm going to be getting the rest of the bits for my IPC this weekend, I was wondering how I could network it up without resorting to thicknet. I have a hub that Does AUI, 10-bT and thinnet, the IPC has AUI as well. The official way to link the two (female) AUI ports is two tranceivers and a thicknet cable which I can't be done with - I have been reading about an AUI crossover cable, with maybe a homebrew collision generator PCB... Any experience with this sort of thing, guys? Tips? Alex -- My computer's heavier than yours. --

24 years, 1 month

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IPC Networking

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 12, 21:49, Tony Duell wrote: > > > > > All you need is a AUI --> Thinnet (10Base2) or AUI --> 10Bt tranceiver. > > > > I get the impression that two-node 10Bt networking can be done with > > nothing but a crossover cable. (IE the chaining connection on hubs is > > just a crossover) Is this possibly true, using just the cable? > > I beleive that one is possible. In fact I've seen crossover cables on > sale for this purpose (this doesn't mean they _work_ of course :-)). Assuming they're wired correctly, they'll work fine. This is all a normal MDI-X port on a hub does. Internally, the hub has the same type of tranceiver that a PC NIC (or any other 10baseT device) has, the only difference is that the hub has the crossover built-in (hence the label MDI-X). The "uplink" port on a hub is an MDI port, ie one without a crossover. The point is that the connections (Rx and Tx) on ANY 10/100baseT link must be crossed over at one end with respect to the other (think DTE and DCE if you're used to serial line terminology). You can connect two hubs by using a straight cable from the MDU "uplink" port o one to any normal MDI-X port on the other, or by using two normal MDI-X ports with a crossover cable, or by using two MDI "uplink" ports with a crossover cable. Similarly you can connect two computers (or anything else) by using a crossover cable to connect their MDI ports. The only things that won't work on are 10baseT4, VGAnyLAN, or Gigabit ports -- all of which use all 4 pairs. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 1 month

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Stuff I'm looking for (was Re: JunkFest! Sneak Peek)

by acme_ent＠bellsouth.net

> From: Joe <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com> > We'll meet at Glen's shop (Acme Computers) at 9AM. (Hint, it's getting HOT here early so don't be late!) Contact me if you need directions. Joe, minor correction: that's ACME, not Acme ;>) For those who plan to bring stuff to trade or sell, I'm always looking for obscure Sinclair and Timex Sinclair stuff, including original program cassettes issued by Timex in the US. I could also use a couple of Apple ][ Super Serial cards, and Zenith Z-100 (not Z-100 PC) stuff, particularly a RAM expansion board, internal modem, and RTC board. See ya there! Glen 0/0

24 years, 1 month

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Aucton Find

by jrkeys＠concentric.net

Went to a small town surplus auction on Saturday and picked up a IBM 3570 Tape unit to go with the AS/400 I got a few weeks ago, it was only $10 plus 5% BP. Also got a 20" color monitor that they were using with the AS400 it's a Mitsubishi brand. And I got a big box full of mics parts including parts for the IBM ThinkPad new in boxes, various cables, and 11 storage boxes for 3.5 FD. Other items were mixed in also.

24 years, 1 month

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Epson HX20 ROM cartridge file format

by ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk

A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text Size: 1422 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/20020512/c970a5ce/at…

24 years, 1 month

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Introducing myself - RSTS/E

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

My first experience with computers was with the Springfield, MA school department's PDP-11 system running RSTS/E. Each junior high and high school had an ASR-33 terminal and an acoustic coupler. My dad was a math teacher at one of the high schools and he just happened to have the school's terminal in his classroom. Sometimes he would go in to his room in the evening to correct papers and he'd bring me to use the computer. They had a program called PLAY which would allow you to play a number of games. Each school was assigned a certain number of PLAYs per day, and there were usually a few left over each day, so while my dad corrected papers, I'd use up the remaining PLAYs. Well, one day, there were none left, so my dad taught me how to write a simple BASIC program with line numbers and PRINT statements. That was it -- I was hooked. From then on, I wasn't interested in the PLAYSs, but I wanted to know more about how to write programs. This happened when I was about 12 or so. When I entered Junior High school my dad told me who was in charge of the terminal at my school, and made sure that I got time to work on it. Around this time, the ASR-33's were also replaced by DEC LA-34 or LA-36 printer terminals. While in Junior High I tried to get as much computer time as I could, but it was hard because it meant I had to get another teacher to excuse me from a class. Sometimes my art (I was terrible at that anyway!) or music teacher would excuse me, but they didn't like to do it too often. The procedure to use the computer was this: (a) Go to the guy in charge in the morning, and ask him for a computer pass for a particular period. If no one else had signed up for that period, then I could have one. (b) When it came time for that class, go to the class and show the teacher the computer pass, and ask to be excused. IF they agreed, then I could go. (c) If I made it this far, I would go to the counselor's office where the terminal was, and hope the room wasn?t locked. If it was, I could either try to find someone with a key, or be out of luck. (d) If I got into the room, I could then try to log on, and hope the system wasn?t down, or all lines in use. When I went to high school, it was a little easier to get access to the computer terminals. For starters, they had more than one (at one time, they had as many as six operating). We could go before the homeroom bell in the morning, so I?d usually get to school at least 30 minutes before that. There were also two periods a week which were designated to be used for student interests, or extra study periods, so we could use the computer terminals then. And we could use them during any class that we could convince a teacher to excuse us ? I could sometimes get out of studies, gym, or some music classes. During my 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years, I also managed to have my homeroom teacher be the person in charge of the terminals for my school, so that helped. The Springfield School System?s PDP-11 system was run by the math department, and the computer and peripherals were housed in the school department headquarters, which just happened to be right next door to my high school. There, they had VT-52?s (and later VT-100?s) which was a huge step up from the printer terminals in the schools. Certain students were chosen to be ?system managers? and were given privileged accounts. Anyone who did not have a privileged account and wanted to use the terminals in the computer room after school usually was assigned to make runs to McDonald?s or other places for food, and if there happened to be a free terminal when they got back, they might be allowed to use it. Unfortunately, I never happened to have the opportunity to be a system manager. On several occasions I found security holes in the system, and I was honest and told the others about them, so I believe that I was not trusted, and they thought I had other things I was still hiding. I probably would have been better off to just keep quiet about the security holes. The main version of RSTS/E that I recall from those days is 7.07. I do remember the earlier V6C, but I was still a ?beginner? then and didn?t pay much attention to things like operating system versions. They might have even been on a higher version by the time I graduated, but I honestly don?t remember. I?m also not sure which model CPU it was they had, but from the pictures I?ve seen on the net, I?d guess it was an 11/20. There were some fine student programmers running the system in those days. They had done quite a bit of customization to the RSTS/E CUSPs that made it much easier for the students to use. One of the neat things they did was to come up with a translation scheme to translate from the [proj,prog] user notation to a 3 letter + 1 optional digit ?username? scheme. The student would never need to know about ppn?s, or even be aware that they existed. The way that this was done was by dividing the proj number by 10, and indexting that into the alphabet, and then taking the remainder and indexing it into a predetermined 10-character string, then taking the prog number, diving that by 10 and indexing into the alphabet, and if there was a remainder, adding that as a last digit. The string for the middle letter was determined so that most school names could be somehow abbreviated. For example, if ?H? was the 2nd letter of the string, the project number for any CH account would be 21. CH accounts were assigned to ?Classical High? (the school I attended). Other schools had two-letter abbreviations for their school. The computer administrator for each school always had the ?A? account, and could run a privileged program that would allow them to administer accounts (add, delete, change quota, etc) for their project. So the administrator for my school had CHA, and could assign accounts like CHB, CHC, CHD, CHD1, CHD2, etc. All the CUSPs were modified so that you could log in with an account name, do directories of account names, they?d show up in SYSTAT, etc. It was pretty neat, but I know also a headache when a system update cmae out. I know the transition between RSTS V6C and V7 was painful, as the system was down for quite a few days (maybe even weeks) and it was even longer before all CUSPs accepted the alphanumeric account names. I did happen to have some access to the Springfield School System?s RSTS systems a few years later when they were on a higher version, V9 I think, and they had dropped the alphanumeric account system ? probably because the CUSPs became too hard to modify, or too many of them were no longer written in BASIC or had source code available. Unfortunately, the way the computers were run in our school system was not as condusive to learning and exploration as it should have been. Those who had privileged accounts were treated, and acted superior. It took me quite a lot of question asking before I could get any of them to teach me about SYS calls; and of course, all the ones I wanted to experiment with were privileged, and it was about impossible to get any of the privileged users to compile my programs with privileges so I could run them. As I mentioned before, the ?peons? were delegated to food runs and other errands if they went to the central office to try and use a terminal. Also, I was interested in other computers (by this time, I had my own Commodore PET at home) and the other system managers looked at this as a toy. I befriended one system manager, Dave Martinez, who taught me a lot, and was open to letting me absorb as much information as I wanted. Unfortunately, he was not among the ?favorites? of the system managers. Dave somehow got involved with the installation of a RSTS/E system at American International College (AIC), and when it was first unpacked and installed, he called me up and said ?I?m going to sysgen a new system from scratch? do you want to come over and watch?? Of course, I was totally blown away, as I had no idea what was going on ? I had never seen a SYSGEN before, or even heard of it at that. Once their system was established, he allowed me to come to their terminal room (where they had VT-100?s) and although I didn?t have a privileged account, he?d allow me to write privileged code and he?d even leave his keyboard open at times so I could compile my privileged programs without someone looking over my shoulder. Unfortunately, I don?t know what happened to Dave, or where he went, but he was a major influence in my interest into system-level programming. I?ve recently obtained Bob Supnik?s SIMH, and SYSGEN?d a RSTS/E V7-07 system myself. But it feels foreign to me, as much of the customized system software I used in high school is not present, and the numeric proj,prog account scheme really feels foreign to me. I may have some paper listings of the customized CUSPs filed away somewhere, and it might be an interesting albeit time consuming exercise to try and reproduce the alphanumeric account environment we used in the school system. There is other customized software we had (such as a MAIL program, I don?t know if that was custom written but a student, or taken >from somewhere else such as DECUS or another school system), and a HEARTS game implemented in a Run-Time System. I wrote a multi-terminal UNO game (one logged-in user ran it, and added other players on logged-out terminals) which I know I still have paper listings of, and I might endeavor to retype it. It is remotely possible that I still have that program in electronic form somewhere. I am curious to know if anyone has been able to successfully run any later versions of RSTS/E past V7-07 on a simulator. If I read it correctly, the Mentec hobbyist agreement specifically states V7-07 only, and I have not seen any versions later than this available publicly on the net. I know that some later versions of RSTS/E, especially when the DCL RTS was added, became somewhat more sophisticated than earlier versions. I?d be very interested in being able to experiment with some of these later versions in a simulator. RSTS/E was my springboard into the world of computers, and the system that I compared every other computer I used against for quite a while (until I ?met? VMS) - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA USA

24 years, 1 month

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Introducing myself - CDC Cyber 170

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

Welcome, Bob... you said: > At the end of the Spring 1982 semester, I spent a fair amount of time > locating many source codes for all kinds of things & programs I had > written, programs my friends had written, and a lot of things I probably > wasn't supposed to have access to. I made a list, and prepared to make a > batch job to back it all up onto tape. My last night there, I submitted > the job, and one of the last things I did before leaving campus that > semester was go to the operator window to retrieve my backup tape. They > had it there, with a big note on it "DO NOT RETURN". It took a little > coaxing, but I finally got them to give it to me. I've still got this > tape, although I don't know if it is readable, or how I could get the > data off, or make use of it. I haven't seen any Cyber 170 simulators, > and don't expect to find one anytime soon. Sorry to quash your expectations, but three full Cyber emulators are under construction, with a few others on hold. We have successfully deadstarted the very old Chippewa Operating System, and we're working through the NOS 1.3 deadstart right now. Summer looks good... And I can help you find someone who can read your tape for you, either myself or one of the members of the team. Regards, -doug quebbeman control freaks list owner

24 years, 1 month

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TRS-80 Model 12 card cage expansion

by linvjw＠bedrocksys.com

Would anyone happen to have a spare of the card cage used to make the TRS-80 Model 12 able to accept expansion cards? I have one that I'd like to run Xenix on (with the help of a 68000 card)... Thanks! John

24 years, 1 month

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Fw: Need Computer Hardware at up to 95% off Original list!

by rhb57＠vol.com

Forwarding only becuase I thought this might be useful to people on the luist, no other reason at all. Contact the originator "Dennis" direct, off list. "Dennis" <dmison(a)elarasys.com> wrote in message news:<7b927365.0205101254.2b5c5096(a)posting.google.com>... > Company Info > > Elarasys Inc. is a leading systems consultant firm with over 20 years > of experience in the IT industry. Our Commitment to Excellence > provides each client with superior technical expertise groomed by > years of experience, with the time frame they demand. > > About Elarasys Inc > Elarasys Inc. is a leading reseller of pre-owned and pre-certified > solutions. Our inventory includes the full line of IBM RS/6000, Sun > Microsystems, AS/400, HP9000 servers. We also carry the latest in tape > libraries, disks, monitors, and large printers All systems are > extensively tested to provide our clients with the highest quality > products. > > Our Commitment > Elarasys appreciates our loyal customers and strive to keep them > completely satisfied. We provide our clients with systems that are > completely eligible for the original manufacturer's maintenance > agreements. This entitles our clients to keep the same level of > service from their existing maintenance provider. Our client's > complete satisfaction is our number one goal, email me for quote.

24 years, 1 month

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Instroducig myself - Apple II

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

As I mentioned in my PET message, my dad bought an Apple II while I was still an avid PET user in high school. I tinkered with the machine a little, but not a whole lot. When I was at U-Mass Amherst from 1981-1983, several friends had them in their dorm rooms, and I started to become familiar with Apple II software. While I was at college, my dad had gotten a contract to work on an Apple database system called CCA-DMS. This was a clunky system written in BASIC. The sorting function was especially slow, and my dad was contracted to write a new sorting routine using 6502 machine language to speed it up. Later on CCA-DMS was bought by VisiCorp (Personal Software bought VisiCalc, and changed their name to VisiCorp, and made a whole line of ?Visi? products). The new CCA-DMS became VisiFile, and was a real clunker. A friend of ours was doing a lot of mass mailing and wanted to put together a software program that would combine a database for maintaining name/address lists, and a word processor for writing letters, and a program to merge the data into the letters. He wrote the database and merge programs in BASIC, but there was no way he could write a decent word processor in BASIC. He had seen a program called ?Magic Window? which moved the screen back and forth (the Apple II screen was only 40 columns wide) as you typed so you could see your full page. He liked that idea, and wanted me to create a simplified version that worked similar. So I created ?The Letter Writer?, which was similar to Magic Window, but simpler, and it was integrated into my friends ?The Letter Carrier? mail merge program. I don?t think he sold very many copies. VisiFile was starting to get popular, but we hated how slow and clunky it was. My dad improved the sort routine even more, and make a separate program you could use instead of the standard VisiFile sort function. Another function of VisiFile that was really awful was the reporting function. The report generator was a huge program that could print a report from a variety of specifications. My dad wrote a program that would take the report specificiation, generate a BASIC program SPECIFICALLY for that set of specifications, and run it. It was faster to spend the time generating a BASIC program to print the specific report, and then run that program, instead of using the clunky VisiFile report generator. And the other advantage was that you could SAVE this specialized report generator program, and simply run it whenever you wanted to generate a new report from your data. My dad sold the sorting program as FAST SORT, and the reporting program as FAST REPORT. Another aspect of VisiFile that was clumsy was the data editing. You could see one record at a time on the screen, in a form layout. It worked OK for some applications, but if you wanted to see data from a previous record (or records) you couldn?t. We came up with the idea of showing data in a grid-like form, and in the summer of 1983 wrote MASS MAINTENANCE. It worked on CCA-DMS or VisiFile format databases. You could use it standalone, or replace the standard VisiFile data editing program with it. We wrote it in 6502 assembler, so it was fast. I don?t know if anyone else had used the grid metaphor before for showing data, but we certainly hadn?t seen it anywhere ? we just came up with the idea. Now, it?s the standard method for displaying tables, etc. VisiCorp contracted with us to modify VisiFile to be Apple //e compatible. They had a prototype Apple //e sent to us, which we used for the project, so that VisiFile was Apple //e compatible when the Apple //e was introduced. We were also sent a ProFile 5MB hard drive, and beta versions of ProDOS. VisiCorp wanted to know if it was possible to migrate VisiFile to ProDOS, and if so, could we do it. We started working on the project, and did get much of VisiFile working under ProDOS. In the meantime, VisiCorp went bankrupt and so the project never got completed, and we never had to return the prototype Apple //e. I do remember going to Apple user group meetings and everyone was talking about seeing pictures of a hard drive attached to an Apple II. It was awfully hard for us to be quiet, as we had one operational at our house. The ProFile hard drive had a head crash, and we lost our Mass Maintenance source code. By that time, the IBM PC started to take hold as a business computer, and the Apple II was used less for business purposes. I got a real job as a programmer for a company, and our Apple II software business quickly died out. The Apple II did continue to get used until I bought a Macintosh in 1985. My dad continued to use the Apple II for a few more years, but he didn?t do much in the way of programming. - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA USA

24 years, 1 month

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Introducing myself - VAX

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

At the end of 1983 I got a job working at a bank developing an accounting software package for the DEC Rainbow, and later the IBM PC. The bank was the Farm Credit Bank, which provided financial services to farms and farming co-ops. They marketed an accounting service for the clients whereby the client could fill out forms with their income and expense information, and other financial transactions, and mail it in. It would be batch processed, and they?d get various reports back in the mail such as check registers, income and expense statements, etc. The system was good, but cumbersome to use due to the mail factor. The bank decided they wanted to write a microcomputer version that could run on a computer in the farm office. Pretty far ahead of it?s time in 1983, I?d say. Although I was primarily working on the account project, the bank?s minicomputer was a VAX 11/780 (or two). We backed up our source code to the VAX system, so I had some limited contact with the VAX. I was intrigued, because I wanted to know how this VMS was similar, and different from RSTS/E. I became interested in working on the Technical Services team, which were the guys who maintained and did all the technical stuff with the VAX. Once we had a shipping release of the accounting software, they allowed me to work half-time in Technical Services, more or less as an apprentice. I latched on to a guy named Tom Vaughan, who taught me a lot about VMS. One of our projects was to write a printer symbiont that would allow one to submit a print job on one VAX, but have it print on a printer connected to another node. This was before VMS offered any such capabilities. The Technical Services department also had a VAX 11/730 which was designated to them for ?testing?. Well, it didn?t get used much, and Tom didn?t mind if I used it for learning purposes. He let me set up a privileged account on it, and I set up access so I could dial in from home and ?play? at night. I had always been interested in ?Talk? programs ? from the days of RSTS/E, where there were ?good? talk programs, to the huge Cyber system at U-Mass, to the programs of the online services like CompuServe?s ?CB Simulator? which was primitive, but cool because you could talk with people all over the country. I had used all these programs quite a lot, and had things from each that I did or didn?t like. One of my main pet peeves of almost every system was having other people?s messages come across while I was in the middle of typing something. I wondered about the VAX, and how I might go about writing a talk system for it. Tom told me there was something called ?mailboxes?, and at first, it took me a while to get over the term itself. I kept wanting them to be related to the MAIL system. After reading some documentation I had a few ideas of how I might implement a talk program using mailboxes. I decided that a server process should keep track of everything, and each user?s client would only interact with the server process. I put together a small prototype, and the concept actually seemed to work. This was definitely a part time project, and it was over a period of a few years (say, from 1985 to 1987) that I refined the program to a point that I considered to be usable. Unfortunately, we only had 2 or 3 dialup lines at work, and no one during the day was able to give the program a good workout. I didn?t want to create accounts for friends and give them access to my work dial-ups. The live testing was very limited. I decided to post the program on the VAXFORUM of CompuServe and see if anyone might want to try it out. One day, in the spring of 1988, I got a call from a guy in Houston Texas who was involved with a system called DATASEEK. At the time I thought he was in charge, but I later realized that he wasn?t, I think he was just a consultant. He said DATASEEK was a company that provided computer services to the oil industry (or something like that) during the day, but at night their computers weren?t doing anything, and they had a system where local people could dial in, get information about local restaurants, activities, etc. and it had a ?CB simulator? where they could chat with each other. He said the current CB software was awful and they wanted to replace it with something different. Could mine work? I asked if he could give me dial-up access, and he said yes. That night I uploaded the software to their computer, and we gave a few (maybe 2 or 3) users access. Testing quickly showed some bugs, and some desperately needed features. I made some code changes, and they picked a handful of avid users for beta-testing. Maybe 15 or 20 people had access to Talk. They suggested more features, and I programmed them as fast as people could request them. Eventually Talk replaced the old system, and it became quite popular. Lots of people called DATASEEK just to use Talk. The original intent of local information and advertising got obscured by the desire for people to use Talk. As Spring turned into summer, I was using the system a lot, and use it to talk to people as much as develop Talk (well, using it was a good way to learn what was good and bad). I made a lot of friends, and planned a trip to visit Houston in late summer. DATASEEK was starting to complain that their system was full all the time (they had 24 dialins, and they would be consistently busy from 7:00PM when Talk opened, until 2:00AM). They wanted some way to put limits on how much time users could spend on Talk. There were a few other things I wanted to add that would be a major change, so I planned to write them locally and bring the new version when I went on my visit. I had a wonderful week in Houston, and met a bunch of really nice people who went out of their way to make me welcome. Of course, I was their ?hero? because I was the author of the software they were addicted to. The installation of the new software went fine, although the time limits DATASEEK imposed weren?t all that popular. But it did help give more people a chance to use Talk. In the Fall of 1988 DATASEEK decided they wanted to make Talk into a subscription service. This didn?t go over well, as it?s hard to ask someone to pay for something they?ve been getting for free. Some people did subscribe, but the user base went way down. In the beginning of 1989, DATASEEK went away. I really don?t know what happened, and I was never clear what their ?daytime? business really was. I continued to play with Talk development locally for a while. I had some features I was working on, such as linking multiple VAX Talk servers together. I also had other ideas about making PC Talk clients, and fancy version for VT100+ terminals. Some of this work is started, but not completed. The node linking was hard to test, and I didn?t know of anywhere that it would actually be used, so I lost interest in finishing it. Without an avid Talk user base, it was less interesting to work on Talk. My last version is dated 1990. I did hear that a few other facilities were using Talk, although I don?t know for how long, or how popular it was. I have totally lost contact with everyone who used my Talk program at DATASEEK in 1988. I would love to hear from some of those people. In retrospect, Talk seems small in comparison to the networked IRC servers of today. The most users I recall on Talk was 31, that was all of DATASEEK?s 24 Dial-In lines, plus all of their local terminals. The main thing about Talk was its user friendliness and ease of use, and customizability. How does it compare with IRC and IM programs of today? It doesn?t have fancy colors or graphics, but to just sit down and talk with a group of people about whatever, I think it?s still a great program. I?ve recently set up a VAX system using SIMH, and Talk still runs under VMS 7.3 just fine. - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA USA

24 years, 1 month

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Introducing myself - Commodore PET

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

In late 1977, I began to hear about small computers that could fit on a tabletop. My grandfather, who was a very generous man, used to take me on Saturdays to various places, such as shopping, to the airport to watch the planes, etc. and one day I suggested we might go check out a new ?computer store? that had opened in Windsor Locks, CT (about 20 miles from my home). We went there several times, and marveled over the computers they had for sale (I believe they initially had Altair computers, and eventually started selling the Apple II). The Apple II seemed quite interesting, but was also quite expensive (for a 14-year old). Somehow we heard that a local store (called NEECO, which stood for New England Electronics Company, and primarily sold calculators) would soon be getting a new ?computer? in that was made by Commodore. Each week or so I?d stop in and see if they had it yet, and each week the answer was ?not yet, we?re still waiting?. Finally, they got one, and they gave me a demo of it. I couldn?t believe how compact the whole thing was, with the built-in monitor, keyboard and cassette drive. And it had a BASIC programming language that I liked. Yes, the Apple II also had BASIC (only Integer basic at that time, I suppose) and one of the main reasons I really felt at home with the PET is because the prompt it gave was ?READY?, which was like the RSTS/E prompt ?Ready? which I was familiar with. It sounds crazy, but that one little word gave me a warm feeling about the PET and made it so that I could identify with something I already knew. The Apple II ?>? prompt seemed very foreign to me. I spent many Saurdays down at NEECO talking with the others who came to marvel at the PET. The owners of the store were very generous in allowing us to congregate there, and chat about computers in general. I guess it was sort-of like a computer club, but we never formalized it as such. May of 1978 came. My grandfather came one Saturday, and I planned to go on our usual trip to NEECO. But, my grandfather opened the trunk, and out came my 15th birthday present, an 8K PET 2001 of my very own. One of the things I really liked about having a PET was that it was MY computer. I didn?t have to listen to some privileged system manager tell me what I could or couldn?t do. If I wanted to try something that might crash or lock up the computer, that was just fine. I felt in control of the system. NEECO did very well selling the PET computer. I believe they were one of the main sellers in New England, as they had a printed catalog which they mailed out, showing the systems, and software they had for sale. I don?t know for sure, but I think they did a fair amount of mail order business. Some of the people who spent their Saturdays at NEECO started writing software that went into the NEECO catalog, and the author would get a commission on every copy sold. One such program I fondly remember was Hal Wadleigh?s ?WAR GAMES? package, which had 4 games; one was an anti-aircraft firing game, one was a depth charge game, and I don?t remember the other two. These were interactive games which made good use of the PET graphics and I was awed by how someone could write a program in BASIC to make these games work. My dad and I wrote a game we called ?Masterbrain?, which was basically the game Mastermind. We put that in the catalog for sale. I wrote a shooter game I called ?Star Wars?, where fighter ships would come into your screen, and you?d have to align the gun onto them and fire. I was only 15, and I was very na?ve about things like name copyrights and trademarks. I probably made a couple hundred dollars total on commissions for the Star Wars game, but for a 15-year old in 1978, that seemed like an awful lot. One of the guys who spent some time on Saturdays at NEECO was Ted Scott. He was not only a good software developer, but he was also an electrical engineer and knew a lot about the hardware side of things. He developed a device for the PET which he called the ?Music Box?. It connected to one of the external ports, and had a speaker, and special software. One of the programs actually displayed music on a staff and played it on the Music Box. It was only one note at a time (monophonic) but this was quite a while before people starting using the ?CB2 line? (I think that?s what it was called) for sounds. The main difference between the Music Box and the later CB2 approach was that by poking a memory location, you?d only get a ?Click? out of the speaker, and you had to write timing loops to get different pitches. The CB2 approach used the 6522?s internal registers to determine what frequency to generate ? just set the frequency, and turn it ?on?, and then back ?off? when you wanted the sound to stop. One of the things the PET allowed me to do was go beyond BASIC programming. I started to learn about things like 6502 assembly language, and direct screen writing by store data into ?screen memory?. I did a little hacking with the Music Box to figure out what made it work. I then started writing my own 6502 routines which made sound effects from the speaker of the Music Box. I incorporated some of these sound effects into a newer version of my ?Star Wars? game and advertised it as supporting the Music Box for sound. As I recall, I don?t think I ever asked Ted Scott for permission to do this ? I just did it. But, I didn?t use any of his code ? just used the hardware if it was there ? so I may have sold some Music Box units for him. I wrote an awful lot of other programs for the PET. Many of them were just tinkerings, but they helped teach me many concepts about programming and computers. I got very interested in writing 6502 routines that could be called from a BASIC program, to do things faster than BASIC could do. I didn?t have a 6502 assembler that I liked ? the only one I had was tape based, and very cumbersome to use. So I learned to hand-assemble 6502. At one point, I had a good portion of the instruction set memorized. I could disassemble 6502 instructions in my head, and have a good idea of what a routine might do just by looking at the hex opcodes. One of the things the PET did not support was ?blinking? text on the screen, yet it had normal, and reverse letters. One of my neatest routines I wrote (in my mind, anyway) was a routine that would create blinking text. There was an area in memory where you?d POKE in the start row/col and length of the text you wanted to blink, then activate the routine, and it would cause that area to blink steadily (?in the background?). The routine hooked itself into the video interlace interrupt on the PET. You could change the flashing areas simply by POKEing new values into memory. One of the other programs that I wrote and sold through NEECO?s catalog was a word game called ?PROBE?. The basic idea was that each player (the human and the computer) would pick a word, and then try to guess the other player?s word. I entered a whole bunch of words from the dictionary for the computer to use, and also did some analysis on these words to give the computer some smarts when making guesses. For example, if the opponent had a ?T? showing with nothing before it, the computer knew what the most likely letter to precede ?T? is, and it would guess that. If that failed, it might try the second-most likely letter to precede ?T?, or see what other letters the opponent had showing and try to guess a letter before or after that. The logic worked quite well, and many games were evenly matched. One of the neatest things I recall is that Ted Scott took apart a Texas Instrument ?Speak & Spell? game and created an interface between it and the PET. He created some software that would access the Speak & Spell?s vocabulary and the computer could cause it to talk. He loaned me this modified Speak & Spell for a few days, and I modified my PROBE game to speak the letters as they were guessed. Could this possibly have been the first TALKING game? My dad and I worked on a Backgammon game. We devised a routine for the computer to make educated moves. I was the ?graphics guru? and my dad was the logical thinker, so we worked well on this project together. Unfortunately, the 8k PET memory didn?t give us enough space to refine our backgammon playing strategy as much as we wanted. Fortunately, a company called CompuThink was coming out with a memory expansion board that you could mount inside the PET to expand the memory up to 32K. NEECO ?loaned? (that?s what they said, but I often wonder if my grandfather purchased it) us a 24k expansion board to refine our Backgammon game. The CompuThink board also had 2 expansion ?slots?, and they soon came out with a floppy disk drive that you could plug into the board. This drive was out before Commodore?s floppy disk drive. I got a CompuThink disk drive which made my life much easier. Many ended up buying the Commodore disk drive, but I much preferred the CompuThink dual drive system for the PET. My dad got frustrated with not being able to get enough time for himself on the PET, and ended up buying an Apple II for himself. At first, I didn?t pay much attention to the Apple II, but over time I became intrigued with it?s graphics, capability to run a modem (which I couldn?t do with the PET), and a friend asked me to write some software on the Apple II for him, so the PET started to get less use. NEECO moved their store from Springfield to Needham, MA (near Boston) and our little Saturday informal group more or less broke up. I still have my PET, although I?m sure it is not operational. I did have some power supply problems at one time, which Ted Scott fixed. It ran fine for a while, but I believe the problems came back and that?s when I finally stopped using the PET. It has probably developed other problems that would keep it from running now also. I don?t think the CompuThink memory board is installed anymore, but I probably still have it. I know I still have the CompuThink disk drive. I can take some pictures of this equipment if anyone is interested. I?ve been able to restore some of my games that were saved to tape into a current PET simulator program by playing the tapes into a PC soundcard, and having a decoder program decode the sound on the tapes and store it in disk files. Unfortunately, most of my later (and better) PET work was saved on floppy disks. I believe I still have the disks, but have no idea if they still contain data, or how to go about getting them read into a PC. The programs I know I have recovered are PROBE, STAR WARS, and some version (I?m sure not the ?latest and greatest?) Backgammon. - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA USA

24 years, 1 month

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Introducing myself to the list

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

Hello, I've recently found this classic computers mailing list and I'm pleasantly surprised at how active it seems to be. I've been browsing sites related to computer history, classic computers, and emulators for a while now and have found a lot of interesting information, but this is the first active discussion group I've encountered. I am going to send several messages to the list regarding my experiences with various systems. These messages will in a way, introduce me to other list readers, and hopefully spark some discussion. I will try to keep the messages at a higher level describing who I am, where I came from, what I've done, etc. but would be happy to discuss anything in more detail either on the list, or privately via E-mail if it doesn't seem appropriate for the list. I?m also hoping these messages might lead me to some long lost ?friends?. I'll break my experiences up by computer system so that if you're not interested in a particular system, you don't have to read the message. I?ve tried to recall everything as best I can, but sometimes there are gaps of things I just don?t remember, or didn?t recall exactly right. It?s been a long time? My E-mail address is: bob_lafleur(a)technologist.com; please feel free to write me on any topic that may stem from my messages. - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA USA

24 years, 1 month

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looking for 44c256 chips.

by geoffr＠zipcon.net

only place i've found with a stock so far is jameco, and they want $2.50 a piece for them :(:(:( I need to fill out some old HP laserjet memory boards..... any suggestions on sources?

24 years, 1 month

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IBM System 23

by mythtech＠mac.com

>I already have a S/23 but what I am really, really desperate for is the >I/O card for the 5246 external dual floppy disk drive. If >you have the drive, you have the card. Do you have the drive? I don't believe so. If I am correct, all I have are the all in one units, and one tower unit. All of which have built in dual floppies, no external floppies. The only accessory I ever had for them was the printers. >Also, do you have any software applications for the S/23, or more >importantly, any games? I will dig thru my software and see. I doubt I have any games, but the accounting program we were running was a custom written application, so I might have some kind of development system for them. The programmers were on staff, so I would think if they used anything special, the company owned it, and so I might still have it kicking around. I'll try to take a look this week (I need to make a decision on the systems soon anyway... the landlord is due in town, and he gets REALLY pissed when he finds I am blocking the hall with computers, so if I can reduce clutter by these monsters, I am all the happier). I at least know I have a few people on this list interested in them if I can't find buyers (I will probably try to eBay one of them and see what happens... I have to think out shipping logistics, I don't want to ship to a buyer and have it be trashed when it gets there). But no matter what, it looks like they won't have to hit the trash, so I am happy. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

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IBM System 23

by mythtech＠mac.com

Does the IBM System 23 hold any value these days? We FINALLY are off them (had one last application still running up until about 2 months ago). So I can now start unloading the ones I have. I am trying to decide if I should eBay them, or just give them away, or <shudder> throw them in the dumpster. I have 3 or 4 of the "all in one" units (screen, keyboard, dual 8" floppies all in one box), and I have one "tower" unit (dual drives in a tower box, screen and keyboard are seperate parts). I also have 3 or 4 printers. Beyond the above descriptions, I know almost nothing about these things, and almost as little about how to operate them... so they aren't something I really care to "collect". I will probably hang onto the tower unit and one printer (at least for the next 7 years, just in case the IRS comes knocking and we need to get info off the old software)... it was the last unit in service. The others were being held as spares in case the tower died, but since we finally got our one accounting application migrated to another system, I can afford to get rid of the spares. Anyone have any idea if I can got money for them, or should I just be happy to find a home other than the big metal box the "dustcart" (<- too much GTA3) collects twice a week. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

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My trip down to Bath - Part 1

by RMeenaks＠olf.com

An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/attachments/20020511/0e1452b3/at…

24 years, 1 month

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IBM System 23

by mythtech＠mac.com

>How heavy/large are they? Considering the 8" floppy drives, they're >pretty large I'm sure, but does someone have a guestimate? 50lbs? 100lbs? >200lbs? (specifically the all-in-one units) I just left work, so I can't put one on a scale, but I am going to say off memory, in excess of 50 pounds. But not in the 200 range (one person can carry one, but they are heavier than your average workgroup laser printer). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

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IBM System 23

by mythtech＠mac.com

>I don't think there's much money in them. The problem is size. Things >that big and heavy don't generally fetch much on eBay, and they're not >compelling enough to overcome that problem. That's kind of what I was thinking would be a problem. I haven't put one on a scale, but I know the all in one model is a heavy beast (I'm going to guess in the range of 50+ pounds... light by the standards of many of the machines discussed here, but heavy when looking at shipping it somewhere) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

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List of interesting stuff was RE: Time to share a source - W.J.Ford Surplus

by comproaz＠earthlink.net

Hello! While doing a Google search i found your page. Am looking to find information on HP 88140C 16 track tape cartridges for the HP 9144. Can they be used for anything else? Do they have a market other than the 9144 as I have a box of Sealed 5 x 600ft tapes and don't quite know what to do with them or how to market them? Any ideas would be appreciated! Susan Gonzales' Compro Data Networks comproaz(a)earthlink.net

24 years, 1 month

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FREE: SGI IndigoR3K 2M SIMMs

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On May 10, 0:08, Jochen Kunz wrote: > On 2002.05.09 22:37 Pete Turnbull wrote: > > > You shouldn't put a PSU from an R3K Indigo inot an R4K > Uuuups. To late. The R4k PSU is already dead an replaced by a R3k one... :-( Didn't anyone think of/try to repair them? Did they fail spectacularly or quietly? I could use a spare... -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

24 years, 1 month

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Recent Spam and new classiccmp server status

by r.stek＠snet.net

Jay- First, thank you for taking on this task. I only read the posts every few days using the digest format, so I am VERY supportive of your two list solution if it can be worked out. I am sure that as I scan the digest and quickly skip over the OT posts I am missing some stuff of interest, but there are only so many hours in the day. Your proposed solution will make my reading much less time-consuming and more enjoyable and possibly allow me to respond and post a little more frequently myself. FWIW, I would support a more actively moderated single list, but that is just my preference. Bob Stek Saver of Lost Sols

24 years, 1 month

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VAX VMS 7.2 hobbyist CD

by bob_lafleur＠technologist.com

I don't know if this is an appropriate place to post this, so please forgive me if I have made an error. I am looking for a copy, or a downloadable ISO image of the VAX VMS 7.2 hobbyist CD. This CD was previously available for order, but is now sold out. I E-mailed to the link on the VAX hobbyist page, and they told me that I can still obtain my own hobbyist license (which I have done) and borrow someone else's CD for installation. To me, this means that they don't mind the media being copied (as it's no longer available anyway) as long as each user still registers their own license. I don't expect anyone would be willing to make an ISO image of it available to the public. But, if someone could put it on a server somewhere and E-mail me a private link for download, that would be super. Or, if you're willing to snail mail me a copy, I'll pay your media and shipping costs. Thanks. - Bob Lafleur Springfield, MA

24 years, 1 month

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Has the list gone dead?

by dquebbeman＠acm.org

Sellam wrote: > > Ignore me. Internet problems (again). > Yeah, I got a bounce from something sent to your usual e-mail address... Its timeliness has passed, so no worries... -dq

24 years, 1 month

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Question about Data General One power

by vcf＠siconic.com

Is the power connector on the Data General one a DC input? Judging by the icon next to it, I think it is: - - - ----- Just wanted to make sure. If so, does someone have a spare power supply to trade, or know what the specs are? Thanks. -- Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

24 years, 1 month

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Madge ISA Token NICs

by mythtech＠mac.com

>OK, this is on topic since the technology is over 10 years old, ISA is over >ten years old and the cards are more than likely also over ten years old. I >am looking for at least one, possibly more, Madge ISA Token Ring NICs - >hopefully of the Blue series. Anyone out there know where I could get some? >I really don't want to deal with eBay where they are about $8 US plus $6 >shipping (kinda excessive per card). I have the following Token Ring cards still in inventory: 11 - IBM, Auto 16/4 Token Ring, ISA, RJ45 DB9 08 - IBM, Auto 16/4 Token Ring, ISA, RJ45 13 - IBM, 16/4, ISA, RJ45 DB9 08 - IBM, 16/4 Token Ring, Microchannel, DB9 04 - IBM, 16/4, ISA, DB9 03 - IBM, Turbo 16/4 Token Ring, ISA, RJ45 DB9 01 - Intel, M#770400331 16/4, ISA, RJ45 DB9 01 - Madge, Smart 16/4 AT Plus Ringnode, ISA, RJ45 DB9 I used to have more than the one Madge, but I gave the others away to someone on this list already. You can have any or all of the above for the cost of shipping (and if you want to toss me a few bucks as well I won't object, but it isn't a requirement). All the cards are untested. They were removed from machines that were never under my care, so I don't know if they work or not, but I would guess they do, since they were removed during a mass migration to Ethernet... but like I said, they weren't under my control, and I haven't tested them, so you get what you get. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>

24 years, 1 month

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Too much off topic

by bob＠copenhagen.cuug.ab.ca

My 2? worth: There is often too much off-topic discussion here for me to trawl through. If someone wants a forum to discuss politics or whatever there are many options that do not involve this mailing list. May I suggest: Usenet newsgroups (a HUGE number concerned with politics) Yahoo! groups or equivalent elsewhere Any number of newspapers and TV network web sites Setting up a separate mailing list (majordomo, or whatever) Politics is endlessly fascinating, frustrating, and fractious, but not here *please*! Let's all be happy nerds together. And on that note... I've got a couple of Xerox 1108 (DandeTiger) machines of which I am very fond and for which I would like to find more maintenance information. Anyone got a set of blueprints about their person? | the digital divide is an issue of poverty; Bob Bramwell 60 Baker Cr. NW | if we can eliminate the information ProntoLogical Calgary, AB | barriers, we'll all live in a safer, +1 403/861-8827 T2L 1R4, Canada | more prosperous world. | - John Gage, Sun's chief researcher.

24 years, 1 month

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HP9100

by jrengdahl＠safeaccess.com

There's an HP 9100B on eBay. I learned to program on a machine just like this. It was the first computer I ever saw. My high school got one in 1971 when I was a senior, and life has never been the same since. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1352137422 -- Jonathan Engdahl Rockwell Automation Principal Research Engineer 1 Allen-Bradley Drive Advanced Technology Mayfield Heights, OH 44124 http://users.safeaccess.com/engdahl jrengdahl at safeaccess dot com "The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." II Cor. 4:18

24 years, 1 month

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Madge ISA Token NICs

by john_boffemmyer_iv＠boff-net.dhs.org

OK, this is on topic since the technology is over 10 years old, ISA is over ten years old and the cards are more than likely also over ten years old. I am looking for at least one, possibly more, Madge ISA Token Ring NICs - hopefully of the Blue series. Anyone out there know where I could get some? I really don't want to deal with eBay where they are about $8 US plus $6 shipping (kinda excessive per card). -John ---------------------------------------- Founder, Lead Writer, Tech Analyst and Web Designer Boff-Net Technologies http://boff-net.dhs.org/index.html ---------------------------------------

24 years, 1 month

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JunkFest! Sneak Peek.

by rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com

I just want to remind everyone that's interested about the JunkFest here in Orlando next Friday. We'll meet at Glen's shop (Acme Computers) at 9AM. (Hint, it's getting HOT here early so don't be late!) Contact me if you need directions. I'm still digging stuff out but here's a list of stuff that I've got laid out to bring so far; four heavy cloth bags that appear to be for KayPros, a TRS 4P computer with a stack of manuals, a DATA IO model 19 EPROM programmer (with both Expanded and Extended memory cards) with a GangPak and 2708 personality module, a bunch of Multi-bus cards, SGI Indigo case, (possibly) a HeathKit SweetP plotter, (possibly) early clean IBM PC with 48k RAM & monochrome monitor & keyboard, a couple of PAL programmer modules (303-11A plugin and the Logic Pak) for the DATA IO model 29 programmer, (possibly) a HP 85 with two serial interfaces and three ROMs (plotter, Matrix & IO). If anyone is seriously interested in any of this contact me and make sure that I bring what you want otherwise it may get left behind. Other stuff: Elf stuff & Prelimenary User's manual for the 6809 for Mike, RS-6000 RAM & SCSI docs for Sridhar. Joe

24 years, 1 month

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Probably on topic - Free Agfa programmable printer's camera UK

by Lists＠joules.org

Apologies in advance if this is considered off topic, but I think it is about 10 years old and I think it has a microprocessor in it. This is being posted on behalf of a friend. He has an Agfa Repromaster 2200 II Camera which he no longer requires. This must be collected within the next week and was working when last used. If there are no takers then it will be scrapped. -- Regards Pete "Time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana"

24 years, 1 month

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3100/76 cdrom woes

by fdebros＠verizon.net

Dear Chuck, I hooked a dec cd42a-rd to my vs3100/76 Correctly it is recognized after >>show dev as dka300, scsi 3 is set on the scsi box Then I stuff the netbsdvax iso CD in it, >>>boot dka300 and .... it stalls on an err 43 and 6 halt The scsibox is correctly terminated, it is `an original brand new dec scsi box.... What am I doin wrong? Fred

24 years, 1 month

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